Linked References
Backlinks as concept-collectors — the system does the sorting
- You place [[…]] references and read the resulting backlink list as a concept collection. ·· Success criterion: You create a concept page with no body and fill it solely via [[…]] references from three notes.
- You separate same-named concepts through the page hierarchy. ·· Success criterion: You model a client and an employee of the same name via [[Client/Name]] vs [[Name]] without mixed backlinks.
- You follow up on Unlinked References on a regular basis. ·· Success criterion: You convert five Unlinked References in a corpus into real [[…]] references.
Whatever you have ever thought about a concept now sits under the concept page. You do not sort it — the backlinks do. The name Shah turns up in 14 notes; on the page [[Shah]] all 14 mentions appear, without you adding a single line.
Why hand-maintained concept pages turn incomplete
The usual practice is a person page Shah, holding a list of matters in which Shah comes up. Every new note needs two steps — the note itself, and the entry on the person page. By the 200th matter the entry is missing. By the 800th, nobody can say any more whether the list is complete.
5 rules for Linked References
- [[…]] is the only upkeep. Whoever writes [[Shah]] into a note has updated the person page along with it.
- Backlinks are contextual recall. The concept page holds the sentences in which the concept was mentioned — not just the titles.
- Unlinked References are the follow-up. Mentions without [[…]] are listed as a suggestion, not silently linked.
- Page hierarchy for domains. [[Client/Shah]] separates the client from the employee Shah; the backlink list stays unambiguous.
- Concept page as a collection. The page [[Shah]] needs no body — the backlinks are the body.
# 2026-05-04 Workshop appointment
- [[Client/Shah]] reports storage damage on the spindle
- Matter no. 4711, agreed call-back 06/05
- In charge: [[Desai]], stand-in [[Trivedi]]With this one note, three backlinks appear on three concept pages. Not one of them was placed by hand.
Before/after — person page Shah
| Hand-maintained page | Automatic backlink list |
|---|---|
| List of matters, added by hand | List of notes carrying [[Shah]], system-generated |
| Upkeep per mention: 1 entry | Upkeep per mention: 0 min |
| Completeness unclear past ~50 matters | Completeness given by definition |
| Context missing — only the title is linked | The sentence in which [[Shah]] was mentioned is shown |
| Client/employee split done by hand | Split via [[Client/Shah]] vs [[Shah]] |
Field data from the 1,200-page corpus
- Upkeep per concept page: 0 min
- Forgotten notes recovered per 1,000-page corpus: 23
- Link density after 3 months: 4.2 backlinks/page
The 23 recovered notes are the difference between the hand-maintained list and the backlink list, measured against a corpus of 1,000 pages over three months. The notes were present, but not entered on the concept page.
An honest question
When did you last link by hand what the backlink list already knows?
Whoever answers “this morning” is maintaining two corpora in parallel. Whoever answers “I do not know” has forgotten one of them. Either way, that is the routine Linked References replace.
- Take three existing notes in which the same person or client comes up, and place the name as a [[…]] reference everywhere. Then create the same-named concept page, leave it with no body, and read the backlink list as the collection it has become.⏱ 5 min
💡 For a client, kindly place [[Client/Name]] rather than [[Name]] straight away — then the page hierarchy separates the client from the employee of the same name before the backlinks ever mix.
Model answer: After the three references, the concept page for Shah shows all three notes with the sentence in which the name was mentioned — without you making a single entry by hand. Place a client via [[Client/Shah]] and you see it cleanly split from the employee [[Shah]]. The concept page stays with no body of its own, since the backlinks are the body — the upkeep sits at zero minutes.
What updates a concept page?
What are Unlinked References?
How do you separate the client from the employee of the same name?
The system does the upkeep.
Write [[…]], and the concept page fills itself. Your second brain gathers whatever you have ever thought about a thing — a companion that asks for no second list.
Reserve your slot··free of cost →